What management style should you adopt to promote the performance of your team?

The impact of management on the efficiency of teams has been the subject of much research. This research has confirmed the important role of leadership in achieving results, and its direct influence on the level of employee commitment.¹ 

From then on, the different "management styles" and their effects on the life of the teams were the object of particular attention. This has led to the formalisation of several typologies of managerial attitudes (we will come back to this a little later). 

How can you translate this knowledge into concrete applications in the field, in order to adopt the most favourable managerial attitudes for the success of your team in the commercial field?

The impact of management on business performance

1. Define a framework to ensure the conditions for performance

Operationally, the sales manager or director intervenes in many elements that have a direct impact on results:

• Definition of operational objectives: What turnover? On which offers? To which targets? And so on...
•  Building the sales organisation model: What are the stages of the sales cycle? What is the distribution of roles between the different team members? Etc...
• Its implementation in individual action plans: What type of actions should be taken? On which accounts? Etc...
• Allocation of efforts and resources: What time, skills, human resources, financial or logistical means... should be allocated to each action or objective? Etc.
• Facilitating collaboration between team members: What are the "rituals" that allow collective exchanges? What is the rhythm? How and by whom are they facilitated? And so on.
• And finally, the management and monitoring of commercial actions: What performance measurement indicators (quantitative and qualitative) should be adopted? How to monitor and steer them (evaluation method, frequency and monitoring methods, etc.).

It thus creates a framework for action that conditions the achievement of results.

Beyond this framework, which is essential, the manager is also responsible for creating the right conditions for the development of his or her team's performance, by acting on its two main components: skills and motivation.

2. Managing the "performance equation

Competence and motivation determine both the performance and the degree of autonomy of team members.

In the field of marketing and sales effectiveness, managing a team is above all about steering what is known as the "Performance Equation", which can be formulated as follows:

PERFORMANCE = Skills x Motivation (individual and collective)

From this point of view, the role of the manager is to :

• Ensuring that each employee has or is able to acquire all the skills needed to succeed in their role
• Regularly assess the individual and collective motivation of the team members and its development
• Tocreate the conditions for the sustainable development of skills and motivation, both individually and collectively

Attention to both levels (individual and collective) is an essential part of the equation, as team members act in synergy, and overall effectiveness is more than the sum of individual effectiveness (in a well-functioning team), just as(a contrario), a dysfunctional team can annihilate the efforts of the most effective and motivated individuals...

How to develop a management style that promotes performance?

 1. know thyself

Knowing the different typologies of managerial attitudes allows the manager to situate himself personally in relation to them, i.e:

•   Identify his or her natural "dominant style", in other words the type of management that best suits his or her personality and towards which he or she tends to lean
•   To become aware of other possible approaches in order to give oneself room for choice, to broaden the range of tools and to develop this style, either on a long-term basis or on an ad hoc basis, in response to specific contexts, situations or staff profiles.

The best known typology is that of the 4 management styles (directive, persuasive, participative and delegative), on which the literature abounds. We can also mention the 4 types of leadership proposed in the EDHEC Business School study entitled " The Leadership Revolution ", whose approach is complementary.

It is therefore useful for the manager to be familiar with these typologies and to have questioned his or her practice in the light of this analysis grid.

Beyond these basic references, several tools can help in this perspective: the 4Colors profile (or DISC method), 360° feedback, coaching, co-development groups between peers, etc.

In particular, it should ask itself these 5 key questions:

• Which style do I use most? (most often, most naturally)
• Is it appropriate for my team? To the current context of my company?
• What results does it produce?
• At what level does it allow me to promote the best performance of the different profiles present in my team?
• What would I like to improve?

There is no management style that is better than others or more favourable to performance a priori and in all contexts!

The essential thing for the manager is therefore to identify the components of his or her management style and to constantly evaluate them, in a given situation and with regard to the context (objectives, company culture, situations encountered, variety of employee profiles, etc.), in order to act consciously with the aim of improving the team's performance.

2. Deploying the right management style in the 8 managerial tasks

When the manager has achieved a better understanding of himself, he is able to adapt his managerial style to the situation, to his interlocutors and to the evolution of their relationshipover time.

For example, he or she may adopt a directive style when dealing with an employee with a low level of skills in order to obtain results more quickly, and change his or her attitude to a more persuasive or even participative style as the employee becomes more independent over time.

Or develop a participative or even delegative management style for the most part with regard to his or her team, but temporarily adopt a directive style in times of crisis requiring rapid decision-making and immediate action.

This self-knowledge gives the manager the ability to consciously choose and "dose" the skills to be activated, in all aspects of his or her function.

At KESTIO, we call them the "8 missions of the manager":

•     Anticipate
•     Decide
•     Organise
•     Animate
•     Communicate
•     Solve
•     Pilot
•     Performer

For example, on the "deciding" axis, the "enlightened" manager will define the decision-making method not only in terms of his or her personality, but also in terms of the effects on the team: if he or she observes that a personal tendency to want to control everything has the effect of demobilising his or her team, which suffers from not being able to take any initiative, he or she will adapt his or her operation in the interests of the team's performance.

Or on the "communication" axis, he will develop more or less listening and collecting opinions from his team or collective meetings, depending on the management style he has decided to opt for and which seems to him to be the most likely to ensure the conditions of effectiveness.

Taking a step back from oneself and developing one's relational intelligence are therefore keys that enable the manager to make the right decisions in each situation and to implement at any time the most favourable measures for the individual and collective success of his team.

How can you redirect the efforts of your sales staff in the current context? Discover in this webinar the keys to managing your team's performance.